All Purpose

So I’m making some progress on the Monkey socks.

I’m liking the pattern, but I’m kind of bummed the colors are clumping up like they are. I have a lot of purple on one side and a lot of green on the other. It’s not terrible though, I mean I don’t care that much about pooling and flashing, I just wish the colors were more evenly distributed on both sides. but it could be worse.

It’s been another rough week. My oldest cat died this week and that has really upset me. I also got more bad news about my stepmom, so I’m not in a good place right now. I am going to Galveston this weekend to see some of my family, and hopefully that will be ok. I guess I don’t have much else to say. I’m knitting, it’s comforting, so hopefully I’ll have some good updates after the weekend.

No Comments | In: gifts, knitting, work in progress | tags: cats, gifts, grief, knitting, pets, socks, work in progress. | #

First things first: the hat situation…So I talked with my sis on Friday and she told me that if I made something handwash it wasn’t a big deal. She also said she didn’t think something covering her ears would be practical. I’m still making the Earhart hat anyway though-to give her options. I also made a crochet hat out of some of my Malabrigo Chunky and that was FAST, so it’s ready to go.

The Earhart hat is a little over halfway done (only have a pic of the start of it though).

I went to the sweater workshop yesterday and realized after seaming my shoulders and starting my collar that the neck BO is way too tight. I know I said I was going to fix that last week, but I didn’t and I should have. Ended up unseaming the shoulders and ripping back and redoing the bind off on the back and one side. I’ll do the other side tonight and reseam the shoulders and try the collar again. I’m really shooting to get this done pronto even though I have until March 30th. I really want to start a new sweater (the $1.50 Cardigan) that’s more for the spring. I might even join the Knit Along, we’ll see.

I also have to finish Linda’s hat and decide if I want to start her socks or finish mine first. I talked with my sweater teacher and she helped me figure out where I went wrong. She said for Magic Loop and using 2 circulars you basically do the decreases at the beginning and end of each half. I had them messed up because I was following the DPN instructions and so one of them was in the middle. Anyway, I’m going to rip back and try again I think. So I may finish my socks then start a pair for Linda. I’m, I guess, a little nervous that she won’t like the hats. It’s ridiculous really, but I figure I need to finish my socks anyway for the practice so that hers will be even better than mine. Maybe I could be ready to start her socks this weekend while we’re visiting, or maybe not considering how much else I need to do.

The one thing I have totally noticed since I started Ravelry is that my knitting is not only more organized but I really have started taking more of a project management approach to the whole thing. I feel like I definitely work on my knitting more, I definitely think about it more and I’m definitely finishing a lot more. I have even been planning some spring/summer project, which I have never done before. I just realized I could be working on tanks and socks this summer and I could make socks my present de l’année. So anyway, I’ve been combing back through my old mags for tank patterns and bought some newer Spring/Summer issues of IK that I was missing and now my queue is exploding with projects.

But I am not buying yarn (or anything else I don’t absolutely need) for the next 3 months. If I make it then I can buy myself a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk for the Montego Bay scarf to test it. I love the idea of knitting that Cobweb wrap from the new IK in Sea Silk, but it would be very expensive (over $100 I think) so I’d want to try it out first I think.

No Comments | In: crochet, finished object, gifts, knitting, ravelry, work in progress | tags: binding off, cardigan, collar, crochet, gifts, hat, interweave knits, knitting, lace, ravelry, sea silk, shoulder seam, socks, sweater, wrap. | #

So I realized yesterday while I was working that even though my stepmom has been battling cancer for almost 2 years I have not made her anything. WTF? I don’t really understand how I didn’t think of this before (ok last year with the wedding it makes sense, but when she first started chemo in 2006?). I guess the diagnosis came very quickly and she did chemo really fast and then everything was ok for a while and by the time they found more tumors I was engaged and trying to plan a wedding.

In any case, she is starting yet another course of chemo (an old school kind I hear) in a couple of weeks and I’m going to see her beforehand next weekend, so I decided it would be nice to present her with some comfort items when I see her next weekend. I am going to make her the Amelia Earhart Earflap hat and a couple of pairs of socks. I looked around for some yarn ideas and found that most people say you should give something machine washable. So hard. So after backing and forthing over it I decided since these are gifts I could buy yarn for them. I went to HCW’s after work and found some great sock yarn that proclaims to be machine wash (gentle/cold).

But finding something for her hat was harder. I did end up picking up some Berroco Comfort, but while it is soft I don’t really like that it’s all non-natural fibers. I found a couple of other possibilities though, but wasn’t crazy about the colors they had, and I was just dithering because I wasn’t sure how well the allegedly machine washable stuff will really hold up, then again it’s not expensive (2 skeins/balls) so I could always make her the hat again if it fell apart. Will dad be doing the laundry? So freakin hard to make a decision.

Anyway, I got home and decided that I wanted to knit her something really great and I began doubting the Berroco purchase. I decided instead to start a hat using my last skein of Malabrigo worsted because it’s so soft I just want her to have it, even if dad ends up machine washing it and ruining it. But I’d still like to make her 1-2 more hats in a more practical, yet natural fiber, and since it’s already hit 90 and will be in the 70-80′s this weekend I wanted to do make the next hat in a lighter yarn, maybe try some bamboo. I’d also like to avoid cotton unless it’s organic since we all suspect that her exposure to cotton pesticides (cotton farming is basically what she grew up around) might be a BIG reason she has cancer. Plus, since the hat covers her whole head I wonder about colors.

So anyway, I bought yarn (about $50 worth) + 3 old Interweave Knits that I was missing. I think when I go for my Sweater Workshop on Sunday I’ll return the Berroco and get a different yarn or if I can find something online I might order it online. The Berroco was cheap (I think $3/ball) so really returning it is silly, but I need to get in the habit of returning thing I know I won’t use.

In other news, I finished the sleeves for my sweater on Wednesday night and ripped back the bad right front so it’s ready to fix. No more progress on my sock or Ella’s blanket, and I think that’ll be on hold until I finish the sweater and L’s gifts.

2 Comments | In: gifts, knitting, stash, work in progress | tags: cancer, chemo, cotton, farming, gift knitting, gifts, hat, knitting, natural fibers v. synthetic, pesticides. | #